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CAU launches its 2016 summer programs for adults, youth, families

Whether your passion is history, cooking, gardening, photography, birding, or tennis, Cornell’s Adult University (CAU) has a program to challenge and inspire you this summer.

Adults can spend a week on the Cornell campus this July attending one or more of CAU's thirty weeklong classes, designed and led by Cornell faculty. Every summer singles, couples, and groups of friends tell us they find the immersion in a subject exhilarating and the company of fellow participants enormously engaging.

CAU also offers robust programming for youth ages three to fifteen, so plenty of participants bring along their children or grandchildren for an intellectually and socially engaging family vacation. Alum Diane McLaughlin Halliday '87, who attended CAU with her kids last summer, wrote, "We couldn't decide who was having the most fun, learning the most, or enjoying Cornell's riches the most: my children or Mommy. Next, year Daddy wants in, too!"

This year’s programs will take place between July 3 and 30, 2016, with seven or eight different offerings for adults each week. Registration is always well under way by early spring—and one program, the ever-popular Wines Course taught by restaurateur and vinophile Abby Nash, already has a wait list.

In the youth and teen programs, youngsters get a taste of college life at Cornell while experiencing the fun and friendships of a terrific camp. Supervised by caring, trained counselors, children enjoy well-organized daytime and evening activities, stimulating field trips, and healthy meals. Children accompanying a registered resident adult attend as residential campers—and many area youth attend as commuter campers, enjoying daytime activities from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Adult classes meet each day until 3:30 p.m., leaving plenty of time to enjoy all that Cornell and Ithaca have to offer, from the Lab of Ornithology and the Johnson Museum to free concerts and lectures, performances of Shakespeare plays at the Plantations, the region’s “gorgeous gorges” and beautiful area parks, and the wine trails around Seneca and Cayuga Lakes.

“CAU offers a unique opportunity for terrific courses, stellar instructors, and interesting classmates,” wrote alumna Catherine Hunter ’71, “with intellectual and cultural stimulation . . . while having fun! Who could ask for more?” And travel guru Arthur Frommer, who attended CAU in 2011, described it as "exhilarating" and "an eye-opening experience." "Among competing vacations," he wrote, "this was one of the great values."

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Cornell's Adult University (CAU) offers acclaimed education vacations designed and led by Cornell faculty. Programs include off-campus travel adventures and week-long on-campus summer courses open to all, including Cornell alumni, families, and children.